Systems and methods to program operations for interaction with users

• US 10,546,332 B2
• Filed: 09/20/2011
• Issued: 01/28/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 09/21/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Visa International Service Association (Visa, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Visa International Service Association (Visa, Inc.)
• Inventors: Carlson, Mark, Stan, Patrick
• Primary Examiner(s): Van Bramer, John
• Assistant Examiner(s): Pouncil, Darnell A
• Application Number:
  US13/237,457
• Publication Number:
  US 20120078697A1
• Time in Patent Office: 3,052 Days
• Field of Search: 705 14
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/40 Authorisation, e.g. identification of payer or payee, verification of customer or shop credentials; Review and approval of payers, e.g. check credit lines or negative lists
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0222 During e-commerce, i.e. online transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions

Abstract

In one aspect, a computing apparatus is configured to represent offer rules based on requirements for the detection of predefined types of events and actions scheduled to be performed in response to the detection of each occurrence of the events. The events are independent from each other in processing and are linked via prerequisite conditions to formulate the requirements of an offer campaign.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

providing a computing apparatus including;

a transaction handler coupled between an issuer processor in control of a consumer account and an acquirer processor in control of a merchant account, the transaction handler configured to receive and process authorization requests from transaction terminals of merchants for transactions of users in communication channels separate from communication channels for offer campaign messages;

a data warehouse coupled with the transaction handler;

a communication portal coupled with the data warehouse and the transaction handler;

a message broker; and

a message controller connected to the message broker, wherein the message controller generates messages and transmits the messages to users during real-time processing of authorization requests by the transaction handler;

providing, by the communication portal, a first user interface under control of the portal for receiving first input from a merchant computing device, the first input representative of at least part of at least one offer campaign;

receiving, in the first user interface, the first input specifying an offer, the first input including event records, wherein;

each respective event record in the set of event records identifies an event to be completed by a user for the offer and an action to be performed by the computer apparatus in response to completion of the event;

the each respective event record has a prerequisite field comprising at least one reference configured as a link to another event record;

each respective link of each respective event record is identified by an identifier of a linked record specified in the prerequisite field of a linking record to indicate that an event identified by the linked record is a prerequisite condition of an event identified by the linking record; and

a required order of the events identified by the set of event records for completion by the user is specified for the offer by the links of the event records;

configuring the computing apparatus with a rule engine capable of processing the required order of the events in accordance with the links of the event records, wherein the computing apparatus is capable of detecting and processing a plurality of predetermined types of computing system events, including events processed by the transaction handler;

receiving, by the transaction handler, via first communication channels from the transaction terminals, authorization requests for transactions of users;

generating a plurality of trigger records for the transaction handler to detect occurrences of transaction events relevant to the event records;

storing, in the data warehouse, the plurality of trigger records, and data indicating a completion status of the user with respect to each event required in the event records, such that each prerequisite field of each event record of the event records is modifiable during run time without modifying the data indicating the completion status of the user for an event record that is linked in said prerequisite field;

identifying, by the transaction handler, first authorization requests of first users based on the trigger records in real-time with providing, via the first communication channels, response to the first authorization requests;

in response to a first event having an event type that is identified in a first record of the event records, determining by the rule engine if an event required by an event record identified by an identifier specified in the prerequisite field of the first record has been completed;

in response to a determination that the event required by the event record identified by the identifier specified in the prerequisite field of the first record has been completed and in response to the first event, transmitting a message comprising the offer with the message controller according to the first record, the transmission to cause display of data on a second user interface of a first computing device of the user, the transmitting via a different communication channel separate from the first communication channels, the message transmitted in real-time while the transaction handler continues to process incoming authorization requests, and the message received at the first computing device while the user is still interacting with a transaction terminal to complete a transaction.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the transmitting the message comprises transmitting the message using a communication reference received via the communication portal, and the communication reference is a phone number or an email address.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein messages to the first users indicate that transactions corresponding to the first authorization requests are eligible for benefits of offers associated with account identifiers of the first users;

and the method further comprises;

identifying settled transactions corresponding to the first authorization requests; and

providing the benefits of the offers to the first users via one of;

statement credits, loyalty program points, or point of sale credit using digital coupons transmitted to mobile phones of the first users.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the transmitting the message comprises transmitting the message using a communication reference received via the communication portal.

4. A non-transitory machine readable medium storing thereon instructions, the instructions configured to instruct a computing apparatus to:

provide, by a communication portal, a first user interface under control of the portal for receiving first input from a merchant computing device, the first input representative of at least part of at least one offer campaign;

receive, in the first user interface, the first input specifying an offer, the first input including event records, wherein;

each respective event record in the set of event records identifies an event to be completed by a user for the offer and an action to be performed by the computer apparatus in response to completion of the event;

the each respective event record has a prerequisite field comprising at least one reference configured as a link to another event record;

each respective link of each respective event record is identified by an identifier of a linked record specified in the prerequisite field of a linking record to indicate that an event identified by the linked record is a prerequisite condition of an event identified by the linking record; and

a required order of the events identified by the set of event records for completion by the user is specified for the offer by the links of the event records;

configure the computing apparatus with a rule engine capable of processing the required order of the events in accordance with the links of the event records, wherein the computing apparatus is capable of detecting and processing a plurality of predetermined types of computing system events, including events processed by a transaction handler coupled between an issuer processor in control of a consumer account and an acquirer processor in control of a merchant account, the transaction handler configured to receive and process authorization requests from transaction terminals of merchants for transactions of users in communication channels separate from communication channels for offer campaign messages;

receive, by the transaction handler, via first communication channels from the transaction terminals, authorization requests for transactions of users;

generate a plurality of trigger records for the transaction handler to detect occurrences of transaction events relevant to the event records;

store, in a data warehouse, the plurality of trigger records, and data indicating a completion status of the user with respect to each event required in the event records, such that each prerequisite field of each event record of the event records is modifiable during run time without modifying the data indicating the completion status of the user for an event record that is linked in said prerequisite field;

identify, by the transaction handler, first authorization requests of first users based on the trigger records in real-time with providing, via the first communication channels, responses to the first authorization requests;

in response to a first event having an event type that is identified in a first record of the event records, determine by the rule engine if an event required by an event record identified by an identifier specified in the prerequisite field of the first record has been completed;

in response to a determination that the event required by the event record identified by the identifier specified in the prerequisite field of the first record has been completed and in response to the first event, transmit a message comprising the offer according to the first record, the transmission to cause display of data on a second user interface of a first computing device of the user, the transmitting via a different communication channel separate from the first communication channels, the message transmitted in real-time while the transaction handler continues to process incoming authorization requests, and the message received at the first computing device while the user is still interacting with a transaction terminal to complete a transaction.

5. The machine readable medium of claim 4, wherein the events comprise first, second, and third events, the third event specifying at least one of the first event or the second event as a prerequisite condition.

6. The machine readable medium of claim 5, wherein the first or second event is detected based on activities in the transaction handler.

7. The machine readable medium of claim 4, wherein the instructions are further configured to instruct the computing apparatus to store a list of the events that have been completed.

8. The machine readable medium of claim 4, wherein the events correspond to a flow of events for a user, and the instructions are further configured to instruct the computing apparatus to store data showing a current position of the user in the flow of events.

9. A system, comprising:

a transaction handler coupled between an issuer processor in control of a consumer account and an acquirer processor in control of a merchant account, the transaction handler configured to receive and process authorization requests for transactions of users;

a data warehouse coupled with the transaction handler;

a communication portal coupled with the data warehouse and the transaction handler; and

a message broker and a message controller connected thereto for generating and transmitting messages to users during real-time processing of authorization requests by the transaction handler;

at least one processor; and

memory storing instructions configured to instruct the at least one processor to;

provide, by the communication portal, a first user interface under control of the portal for receiving first input from a merchant computing device, the first input representative of at least part of at least one offer campaign;

receive, in the first user interface, the first input specifying an offer, the first input including event records, wherein;

each respective event record in the set of event records identifies an event to be completed by a user for the offer and an action to be performed by the computer apparatus in response to completion of the event;

the each respective event record has a prerequisite field comprising at least one reference configured as a link to another event record;

each respective link of each respective event record is identified by an identifier of a linked record specified in the prerequisite field of a linking record to indicate that an event identified by the linked record is a prerequisite condition of an event identified by the linking record; and

a required order of the events identified by the set of event records for completion by the user is specified for the offer by the links of the event records;

configure the system with a rule engine capable of processing the required order of the events in accordance with the links of the event records, wherein the computing apparatus is capable of detecting and processing a plurality of predetermined types of computing system events, including events processed by the transaction handler;

receive, by the transaction handler via first communication channels from the transaction terminals, authorization requests for transactions of users;

generate a plurality of trigger records for the transaction handler to detect occurrences of transaction events relevant to the event records;

store, in the data warehouse, the plurality of trigger records, and data indicating a completion status of the user with respect to each event required in the event records, such that each prerequisite field of each even record of the event records is modifiable during run time without modifying the data indicating the completion status of the user for an event record that is linked in said prerequisite field;

identify, by the transaction handler, first authorization requests of first users based on the trigger records in real-time with providing, via the first communication channels, responses to the first authorization requests of the event records;

in response to a first event having an event type that is identified in a first record, determine by the rule engine if an event required by an event record identified by an identifier specified in the prerequisite field of the first record has been completed;

in response to a determination that the event required by the event record identified by the identifier specified in the prerequisite field of the first record has been completed and in response to the first event, transmit a message comprising the offer with the message controller according to the first record, the transmission to cause display of data on a second user interface of a first computing device of the user, the transmitting via a different communication channel separate from the first communication channels, the message transmitted in real-time while the transaction handler continues to process incoming authorization requests, and the message received at the first computing device while the user is still interacting with a transaction terminal to complete a transaction.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the trigger records are generated in response to activation, by the merchant computing device, of rules.